firing my kiln

I am firing my kiln today. Even though I have done it 100's of times now, firing is still a very emotionally delicate time for me. I still wonder if the experiments will turn out OK and if the big pieces will be beautiful. And there are still suprises. My kiln is so old and rusty that when I opened it a few firings ago I found that one of the ceramic anchors from the ceiling had actually crashed through the rust into the kiln- by a stroke of fate it missed all the pots even the ones on the top shelf. I'm not the kind of do-it yourself potter who can just go and weld some new metal and rivet etc so I just laid a piece of ceramic fibre over the hole and cross my fingers every time I fire!


I don't like anyone to be around when I open the kiln as I can get so disappointed when pots don't turn out the way I've visualized. Over the years I've learnt to hold back and not destroy anything in this state of mind as, after a week or even a month your mind forgets what it thought the pot should look like and you are more easily able to appreciate what is actually in front of you. By this curious process some of my most bitter failures have become much loved pieces.

Whip up is a great Australian craft site with contributions from all over the world. Handmade crafts are represented in their groovy, strange, bizarre, intimate and touching entirety from potters to knitters and all in between. Visit it at whipup.net

I have planted a whole garden full of foxgloves.

I have planted a whole garden full of foxgloves.
I don't know what I like most about foxgloves, their sloppy loose bells, like empty socks or their spotted throats.


I also have a minature version of Magnolia Grandiflora. They have amazing huge white blossoms and beautiful glossy green leaves backed with rich brown suede-like fuzz.













Last week I went to visit my friend who lives in an enchanted house in a forest in the very middle of Brisbane. Her house is like an art gallery- a livable art gallery. Full of fascinating objects and paintings. She has 2 Karin Eriksson beakers. (www.karinericksson.se) They are beautiful hand thrown porcelain with a matt white glaze and a 1950's rose decal colllaged onto them. I love how these beakers combine the handmade aspects of thrown ware and rustic, studio pottery glaze with the nod to industrial processes and the contemporary collaged decal.

stay away from hedges

I've been listening to The Whitalms latest cd "Little Cloud". In a beautiful song at the end of the cd Tim Freedman is singing about returning to Sydney from New York and wandering around the city remembering his friend who committed suicide. Freedman sings "Stay away from edges, and ropes if you can" . Decorating pots and listening to this I've thought for ages he was singing:

"Stay away from Hedges and Boats, if you can."

This strikes me as a good, if slightly surrealistic motto for avoiding the pitfalls of 21st century life. Don't get dragged into the sinister blackhole of the unknown and unknowable - stay away from Hedges........
......and boats if you can.

first blog ever

This is my first blog ever. I was inspired by Rebecca the Wrecker (otherwise known as Rebecca Ward jeweller to the stars ( and the nobodies!)

Last weekend I went out to Kingaroy to do some sketches for new work based on the landscape of the Booie Ranges. I drove all the way which sounds like a very ordinary thing for a 34 year old to do except that I am still learning to drive. I was so tense by time we got there my foot had a cramp from trying to stay off the accelerator! Luckily we live in Australia and not New York as I only passed two cars. We stopped at Blackbutt Woodfired Bakery and had a pie, it is right next to an Art Gallery called Butt Art.

We stayed in a beautiful house. They had a studio there made from rammed earth and an old concrete water tank. The tank had been cut in half and a rammed eartth verhanda added to the front with windows and french doors looking out over the edge of the range into the gum forest. Everyone loves these grown up versions of a cubby house and this was a luxury one.